Lion Bonding
by WritingRowlet
Summary: The paladins bond with their lions. Allura and Coran watch in utter amusement.
1. Lance and Blue

Lance wasn't sure what Allura meant when she said the team needed to bond with their lions. But, he was sure that having a cool giant blue lion buddy was really fun to play with. With his built up energy and no-release, it was a pleasant surprise when Lance discovered that Blue didn't mind him using her as a jungle gym.

"Urmph!" Lance squirmed and kicked as he attempted to jump from the elbow to Blue's shoulder. The lion cocked her head to look at the boy, not moving to make anything easier on him. Instead, she rolled onto her side. "Woah, woah, woah!" Lance had to quickly pull himself onto the arm, and from there he just ran across the shoulder and hopped onto Blue's head. "OK, up!"

The lion huffed, which made Lance's face drop.

"Up, up!" he practically whined, jumping in place.

Soon, the lion started to move, which made Lance very excited. However, she stopped when her forearm was resting against the floor and she could tuck her paw under herself. Lance grumbled and slumped down, kicking his feet into the air as he pouted. Why did his lion never want to do anything fun? Her back would have made an _awesome_ slide!

Then, Lance noticed that Blue's tail thumped. It thumped and shifted and had caught his attention so fully that Lance didn't even notice when he started to move. He jumped off the lion's back, and only the impact his sneakers had with the floor snapped him back into reality. That didn't last long when he noticed Blue's tail still thumping.

So, he pounced. Lance latched on, wrapping his arms tightly around his lion's tail before adding his legs. When he was locked on tight enough, Blue lifted him in the air and waved him around.

"Oh God, Oh God!" Lance squealed each time he almost touched wall or lion. He scooted around on the tail, switching his gaze from side to side as he tried to focus on what Blue was doing. Then, he came within only a few inches of the tile, and he just gulped before being flung back up. "OK, I think it's time to get down!" Lance said with a nervous laugh.

Blue lowered him to the floor, but not without making a noise that sounded very much like-

"Are you _laughing_ at me?!" Lance whipped around to glare, arms locked at his side as he stomped.

Blue laid her head down, then nudged her nose against Lance's stomach.

"Oh, no! You were laughing at me!" Lance huffed and spun around. "I'm not just accepting an apology that easily!"

If the lion could have, she'd have rolled her eyes at the boy. Instead, she wrapped her tail around Lance's middle in a hug. Lance puffed his cheeks as he tried desperately to hold onto his grudge. But, the whine that escaped his robot broke him. "Fine, I forgive you!" He sighed dramatically, choosing to ignore the laughter sent his way. " _If_ you let me slide down your back!"

* * *

"Princess, what are you doing?" Coran asked.

Allura looked over to him and snickered, "Come look."

The two watched on the cameras as Lance climbed up his lion and slid down her back, only to jump up and run back around to climb and slide again. The two Alteans laughed at the sight, finding Lance's energy and child-like fascination amusing.

"At least he's spending all that energy now and not at bedtime," Coran said, shaking his head when Blue lifted Lance up in her teeth. "I just feel bad for his lion…"

 **Pretend the lions can do this kind of stuff. I don't know if they can, but I want them to.**


	2. Keith and Red

The castle was extremely loud all the time; Keith couldn't stand it. Normally, he was able to put up with it and huff off to his room, but for whatever reason Lance had started to bug him even more when Keith tried to leave. " _You can't leave! Hunk just found a bunch of alien board games!_ " or " _Dude, you're such a partypooper! It's just one loogy!_ " were common to hear.

So, just to try to find some peace, Keith headed off to his lion's hangar. The claim of 'bonding time!' was enough to get everyone to leave him be. Maybe he shouldn't have yelled…whatever, he could blame it on Lance.

Entering the hangar was enough to loosen the tight nerves and muscles Keith kept clenched. "Hey, Red," Keith greeted in a whisper before patting the paw of his lion. Red looked down and crouched to face her paladin easier. She could tell Keith was stressed, so she wanted to help him feel better if she could. Keith gave her smile and patted her nose. "Man, I'm glad you can't talk…" he mumbled as he slumped against the robot's side. "I get enough of _talking_ just from being in the same building as everyone else here…"

Red whined and curled around the boy, which made him snicker. It always surprised him how caring the robots could all be, considering they were built for destruction and fighting. But, he wasn't going to complain so long as he didn't get the Cub Treatment like Lance and Pidge got quite often.

However, something new happened when Keith leaned against Red's stomach. Vibrations filled the room and practically bounced Keith, making him grab for Red's elbow.

"How can a robot _PURR_?!" Keith shouted, which caused the purring to abruptly stop. He looked up to see Red looking at him with almost a sad expression. "I didn't – you just caught me off guard is all!" Keith crawled around to Red's front, reclining against her paw. He didn't want her to feel bad! "Just…maybe not so loud next time? The floor is really hard to bounce on."

A softer purr escaped the robot and acted a lullaby as Keith started to fall asleep against the cool metal. Red laid her head on the unoccupied paw, further protecting Keith from whatever might enter the hangar. Before long, Keith unconsciously moved to lay closer to his lion's face. He curled up around her chin and laid a hand on the side of her paw.

* * *

"Princess, what was that?!" Coran shouted as he ran to Allura. Had a spacequake happened?!

Allura giggled and shook her head. "It seems that the red lion is very content with her paladin…"

Looking at the monitors, the two watched Keith and Red sleep. They hadn't ever seen those two so relaxed, and doubted they ever would again.

"He almost looks sweet like that," Coran said with a chuckle.

 **Yes this one is shorter, but sweeter in my opinion. I feel like Red would be very mothering once her paladin earned it.**

 **And, boy, has Keith earned it.**


End file.
